


That Which was Stolen [May Yet be Returned]

by AerisLei



Series: The Shadow World: Rewritten [2]
Category: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Andrew Blackthorn's dislike of faeries, Angst, Chronic Pain, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, murders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2020-12-23 23:51:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21089882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AerisLei/pseuds/AerisLei
Summary: This is the second half of 'Of Faeries and Angels' and picks up a year after the story's close. There are still murders continuing within the LA area, and Helen is doing her best to solve the murders, but it hasn't been going well. She's also suffering from the repercussions of the damage she took in that final battle where she stood alongside her brother - these are both physical and mental, and there are levels to it that even Helen has not quite figured out.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I need to mention that I've altered the characters ages slightly, I think. It's been a while, and I know there was some adjusting if Of Faeries and Angels. For clarification sake at the beginning of this story, Helen is 17, Mark is 15, Jules is 14, Livia and Tiberius are 12. Drusilla is 10, and Octavian is 7. I know I significantly closed the gap between Tavvy and the others.

One year ago there had been an attack by shadowhunters, on shadowhunters. One had gone missing, and one had been critically wounded physically - and soul wounded by the loss of her partner. The Lost One was found, bleeding and broken with many of his runes damaged. The attackers had left him to bleed to death, fully intending for him not to survive. Neither of them were supposed to survive. _Both_ of them did. The Lost one was found by the Wild Hunt. It was by chance, really. By chance and on a whim. Gwyn decided to bring the lost one with them, healed him, and made him one of Them. Gwyn the Hunter saw no reason not to, of course. It was not as if the boy hadn't been left to die. The dead and the dying were his domain. 

The Lost One was Lost no more, instead, he was found. He had found a home among the hunt, and while he was still Mark Blackthorn, he also was not. One blue-green eye had been replaced with gold, and he hunted freely with them. It was not a smooth road, for a man raised outside of faerie had a lot to learn to live within it. But a year... even just a year wrought a number of changes in a man. 

Gwyn was proud of his new hunter. Out of tragedy came strength. In some ways, that was the lifeblood of the Hunt itself. After all, they reaped the dead and the dying on the fields of battle. It was not lost on him that the lost one was not entirely happy with them. Still, he knew not what it was that the other was missing, and it was perhaps beyond him to care. What did a Hunter who had never been mortal know of mortal feelings?

Mark did not fully remember his family. Bits and broken pieces, and nothing more. What the Nephilim had done in their attack on him was hard to tell, especially for Faeries with no knowledge of Runes or the precise damage that he had taken. To them, it did not matter, to Mark... to Mark it meant he felt untethered. Lost without being certain where his roots were supposed to be. Only flashes of faces that made his heartache. 

With nowhere else to go, what would he do _but_ remain with the hunt? With nothing to return to, there was no reason not to stay with the ones who had saved his life, who had given him a family. Perhaps, in the end, it was that simple. That did not necessarily mean that Mark was satisfied. He was never lonely and he was never wanting for much with the hunt, but there was something... missing. Something the hunt could not provide that Mark could not put words to. And perhaps there would always be a hole in his heart that he could not understand. 

At least, it was that simple until one of their own was found dead with runes carved into their skin and Mark...he _almost_ remembered. It was there at the edge of his memory as if daring him to remember - no, not daring _begging_. Something inside of him desperately wanted to know... but... 

But Gwyn was furious at the hunter's loss, and there was no time to dwell on the half-remembered scene of finding a faerie with runes carved into their flesh, except to know that it was against the accords and while the Hunters did not keep the Accords they didn't tangle with Nephilim, either. How it had happened was difficult to say. They stayed close together after that, not daring be caught alone since clearly, the Nephilim weren't playing fair.

* * *

Helen wore a white leather bracelet with the runes of mourning embroidered into it on her right wrist. A live and constant reminder of what she had lost. Other than that, she had returned to wearing normal Shadowhunter attire. Without that bracelet to mark her, an outsider would never have known what Helen had lost. At least, without watching her for some time. True to the Brothers' word, Helen _could_ fight again. She was strong enough to do so now a year later, but she still had to be careful.

There had been no total recovery. Helen was not what she should have been, even a year later. There had been dozens of more victims in the last year, and some circle members had been captured, with the help of a boy who had been raised among them and gone to the Silent Brothers begging them to put a stop to what the circle was doing.

They'd only captured a handful, the rest had escaped. The boy had been taken back to Idris, Helen didn't know what had been done with him. That was beyond her scope of what she was permitted to know, even about her own investigation. Once they had been released to the Clave, they were no longer hers to deal with. Still, in a way, Helen preferred it that way. 

Helen helped her father run the institute, and she took care of her siblings and on good days, she fought. She fought tooth and nail to bring the shadowhunters who kept breaking the accords to justice, but it was not enough. Perhaps it would never be enough. Perhaps the remnants of the circle would remain a plague on the downworld. She hoped not, too many had been lost who did not deserve to die. 

Aline's parents had returned to Idris, but the girl herself had remained behind. She and Helen were due to complete a travel year together soon enough. Another year and they would go. In the meantime, Aline seemed to like it here. Helen didn't mind, she found she enjoyed the other girl's presence quite a lot.

Making breakfast was a quiet affair. Today it was pancakes, which were at least reasonably easy for Helen to make these days. 

Over the next week, she had meetings with various leaders of the downworld in LA. They were satisfied with the arrests that had already been made. They were satisfied that the clave was doing enough. And frankly, neither was Helen. The clave wasn't helping anymore, it was just the institute. The problem with that was, the Circle was everyone's problem. The idea that people with Valentine's ideals were still around was a _Clave_ problem, and yet somehow it was being brushed off as if it was LA's problem alone, just because so far the murders hadn't been found anywhere else.

Except there were three dead in Seattle and one somewhere on the eastern seaboard. New York, she thought. The Clave would have to act, but until they did, all Helen could do was the best she could. And she was trying, but the downworld didn't see it as enough. She didn't blame them, mostly Helen didn't feel like she was necessarily doing enough either. Still, there wasn't much more that she could _do_ so she didn't quite know what to try now. 

All she could do was give her best, and if her best wasn't good enough then she'd just have to keep going. There wasn't anything else for it. Helen didn't know what to do except for the best that she could. If, in the end, it wasn't enough, at least _she_ knew she was still trying. She just had to hope the rest of the downworld understood that the clave was trying to solve this problem. Helen wasn't going to hold her breath though, if only because so far the indication had been that they _didn't_ think so.

Perhaps nothing would ever be enough for the downworld, not as long as the murders kept happening. She didn't blame them, but she too had lost something.

Helen sat back quietly, leaning against the back of the chair and willing the ache in her abdomen to go away. It was _frustratingly_ easy for her to overstrain her body and leave herself sore for days. It was frustrating because it meant she was a liability in combat more often than she wanted to admit. She tried, of course, she always tried. But she had to remember quite frequently that she just wasn't capable of keeping up with the patrols as much as she wanted to. 

That was probably at least part of why the downworld no longer felt she was giving it her best because they no longer saw her in action as often. There was nothing for it unless she wanted to end up endangering her people by putting herself where she couldn't manage. 

Aline patted her shoulder quietly, and Helen was jerked out of her mental wandering. She offered the girl a thankful smile.

"You shouldn't let them get to you."

"But they're right, Aline," Helen said it quietly. "They're right. Their people are dying, and nothing we're doing seems to be stopping it."

"We're doing the best we can." Aline countered calmly. "If there was more that we could we _would_ do it, but there simply isn't. There are only so many of us, and there is only so much we've been able to track down."

Helen sighed. "I know that I just..."

"I know."

Maybe in some ways, she _did_ know. Aline had been there that night, Aline had been fighting with them when everything went wrong. And it hadn't been Aline's fault, of course, but she'd been there, and she knew how impossible the attack had been, and Helen knew that the girl had _also_ blamed herself, at first. But Helen was still the one who had lost a parabatai, and that was a wound that she didn't think would ever heal. 

"I'm just frustrated because we aren't making any progress. It feels like I'm failing them. Like I'm failing Mark."

"It won't serve them any better to destroy yourself. Just remember that, Helen."

She knew that, too. But wasn't that what Shadowhunters did, in the end? Destroy themselves for humanity's sake? Helen didn't say that, recognizing that it was far too morbid to actually _say_ to Aline without concerning her. Helen didn't _really _want to do that any more than she already had, after all. Instead, she nodded quietly and shifted her weight in her chair, trying to take some of the pressure off of the complaining muscles in her torso. 

"You aren't failing them, you've poured your heart and soul into this investigation. You've done absolutely everything you can and more than anyone else. They don't _know_ how much work you're putting into this, Helen. They can't possibly. Try not to let them get under your skin."

"Thanks, Aline." But it was hard not to let _herself_ get under her skin, and she was the center of at least some of those feelings of not doing enough. It didn't matter, maybe. One of those things that didn't necessarily need to be said to be understood. 

* * *

Dinner was a quiet affair. Her dad and her siblings joined them at the table. There was a git of conversation. Lots of the younger ones talking about what they'd done in lessons that day and what they were supposed to be covering next, and a little bit of rune quizzing. She kept out of it for the most part, but they were used to that. They were used to Helen being trapped in her own head and seeming to be lost in her own mind. If it bothered the younger ones, they didn't say, and if her father really _noticed_ he didn't either.

It was for the best though. Helen didn't have much positive to add to the table, and it was sometimes better not to say anything at all when she was in the kind of mental state she'd been in since Mark vanished. She didn't like to use to term 'died' even to herself, because it hadn't felt like he died in her rune. 

Still, she didn't know what to make of the fact that her rune had bled, and certainly, she remembered the pain of it. But what had it all meant for Mark? No one seemed to know, not even the Silent Brothers. There was little the Brothers _didn't_ know, even if they weren't able to fix it, so it was disconcerting that Brother Zachariah had had no answer he was willing or able to give her when she was awake and asking. He had merely told her to concentrate on healing.

Andrew hadn't really been the same since, either. Helen felt bad about that, because she didn't know how to bring Mark home, and she didn't know how to make things right in their family again. They were broken pieces, slowly slipping further and further apart it seemed. Perhaps the distance had always been there, but Helen felt it keenly these days in a way she had not before Mark was gone.

Perhaps because she felt less solidly linked to reality than she should have.

After dinner, Helen gathered the dishes and insisted on washing them, even as Jules watched her and told her she should probably let him do it. 

"Helen, honestly you're going to strain yourself. Let me-"

"I can wash dishes, Jules." Her voice was cool, almost cold. She didn't look at him. "I don't need you to coddle me."

"I just want to help!"

"Then help Tavvy get ready for bed." She still didn't look at him, too proud to let him take over even if it _would_ let her go and settle somewhere and maybe lay down to rest properly. She wouldn't because it would prove him right, and because she _could_ manage this without him. It wouldn't be long before he was even _patrolling_ more often than she could manage. But not yet, they were only barely fourteen. Still, Mark had only been fourteen when he and Helen began so, it really wouldn't be long. It seemed like almost yesterday, somehow. 

Jules had backed off finally, apparently going to do what she'd told him to and leaving her in the kitchen alone. Helen continued her task until she'd finished cleaning all the dishes and setting them to dry in the rack. Only once they were all completed did Helen _finally_ allow herself to retreat into her room where she could lay down.


	2. Chapter 2

Despite the pain in her body, Helen knew she could not delay the meeting with the Seelie court representative. It would be a careful game, ensuring her weakness was not made clear. It was frustrating, the pain lingered longer this time than it usually did. She'd had to do several meetings still sore. It seemed she wasn't going to get any real relief any time soon. At this rate, she was going to end up having to ask a Brother to take another look to see if she had managed to do herself real damage over the last few weeks.

Later though, she couldn't delay this meeting as it was. Her hair was swept up into a careful updo, revealing her ears but leaving two pieces of hair framing her face. Her dress was formal but functional. She made careful selections for drinks and snacks to at least _offer_ her guests. The risk of offending a child of the courts of paralyzingly high, but Helen had always managed before. She'd manage now, as well. Even if it wasn't as easy as it once had been. 

The queen had stopped sending Faolan to work with her, and that was a disappointment. _He_ had been easy to work with. Meliorn though... something about him left Helen unsettled much of the time, though she couldn't quite put into words why. 

Helen was settled at a table in the sanctuary. Being able to do the meeting at a _table_ would at least make it easier to hide the more obvious signs of her pain. She dared not show the court weakness, but least of all this Knight whom she did not trust. There was something about him that was different than the others, and until she knew what it was, she would prefer to keep her distance.

The court was dangerous anyway. Her father had reiterated that more than once.

Helen couldn't help but remember ending up ensnared by the court once. Ah, she'd been arrogant, and foolish. ... Still, she'd never made that mistake again.

"Meliorn." She greeted warmly, rising from her seat long enough to bow and gesture for him to settle across from her. She proud him a drink and positioned it within reach for the knight, and then sat back down. 

"Lady Blackthorn."

"Helen's fine." 

They exchanged words and pleasantries for several moments, with Helen making her best effort to remain on his good side. Meliorn seemed to be making no such effort - Helen hadn't expected him to, but he was quite careful to remain just on the correct side of polite. She would expect nothing less from someone the Queen sent forward. Still, she preferred the earnest forwardness of Faolan, who rarely tried to trap her in flowery word games. And when he _did_ there was something playful about it, or at least _more_ friendly-playful than hurtful or dangerous. 

"Whispers tell me another body was found."

Helen inclined her head very slightly. "He was not from either of the courts. But yes, another was found." A Hunter, she'd recognized by his eyes. The thought was concerning, but she knew what she had seen.

"It would seem to me, that you are quite severely failing to protect the downworlders under your institute's purview."

"We are doing what we can to put an end to the attacks," Helen began, diplomatically. "We have captured some of those responsible and continue to work on pinpointing the rest. I deeply apologize that this is something that is taking far longer than any of us would prefer." Certainly, Helen didn't _want_ to still be hunting them, she'd much rather have been done with it long before now. But one did not always get what they wanted, and the reality was that it wasn't so simple.

Capturing Circle members who had evaded the clave for this long... and the trouble with it was that without knowing their crimes precisely there was no easy way of identifying Circle members from completely normal, loyal Shadowhunters. They couldn't exactly just _question_ every single shadowhunter in the Los Angeles area under the Mortal Sword. Tempting a solution though it might have been, it wouldn't have solved much of anything. And it wouldn't guarantee the ones they were harassing were even the right ones.

Never mind that the attack on the Silent City conveniently had removed even their ability to question those captured so far and perhaps use them to implicate the others. _That_ was frustrating and terrifying all at the same time. Valentine... Helen pushed the thought out of her mind. Valentine wasn't _all_ of their problems, but he was one the Clave themselves would have to deal with primarily. They'd thought he was dead once...but clearly, something was not what it had seemed to be. 

"And yet... the attacks continue."

Mentally, Helen counted to ten. "They do, and as I said the Institute is doing everything within its power to make them stop. But it is a process, and it is still in progress."

"It seems to me that downworlders will need to begin to defend themselves from Nephilim if these things continue to go unchecked. As clearly the children of the angel would rather protect their people than those relying on them."

* * *

The meeting with the Unseelie representative was somehow even worse. All of them had the same stance, the Clave wasn't doing enough. Helen herself may as well be responsible for the fact that this continued to happen inwhat they saw as _her_ territory. It didn't matter to them what she did or what she had lost, as long as the deaths continued. Perhaps _only_ the Pack did not lean quite as heavily as the others, but Andre had become the leader of it in the intervening time, and he knew her better than most.

Still, he could only be so lenient with the pack relying on him, and she knew it. 

With the Nephilim themselves breaking the accords, even if it _wasn't_ Clave-sanctioned, things got harder to keep under control. After all, why should the Downworld follow the Accords if they were going to be murdered anyway? Helen understood their stance, but it was difficult to do more than she already had. There was only so much that she could _give_. And maybe that was the worst part, knowing that no matter what she did it wasn't going to be good enough.

Helen stretched slowly, carefully, deliberately. Testing her muscles and trying to loosen the ones that had been over-strained for the last week. Helen knew the issue, of course. She'd pushed too far once and then hadn't been able to actually _rest _since. And because she hadn't rested enough, they weren't healing properly. It was just irritating because Helen didn't really have _time_ for this. With half the downworld threatening to practically riot at any time, there wasn't much space for Helen to back down and try to heal first.

Aline helped where she could, but Andrew was effectively useless. The Carstairs, on the other hand, were absolutely invaluable, and Helen was pretty sure she would have lost her mind without them, especially after Jia and her husband returned to Idris. With them gone, if it weren't for the Carstairs, Helen wasn't sure how the institute would have run. Katerina was doing her best, of course, but she was primarily just there to train the youngest of them at this stage. 

Helen sat quietly in one corner of the library, going over some paperwork that Andrew had _halfway_ done before losing interest in it. It didn't make much for her to manage to figure out where he'd been going with it at least, and she completed the requests carefully. She'd set the paperwork back down on his desk and probably he'd sign it. She was sure he knew precisely what she was doing. Helen didn't know what to make of the fact that he was _allowing_ her to do it, but perhaps Andrew was just glad he didn't have to do everything himself.

And Helen, well, she was glad for tasks she could complete and feel useful since there was so much she couldn't easily do. 

"Helen, will you spar with me?" Livia rounded a bookshelf to ask, eyes immediately focused on the blond girl.

Helen couldn't say _no_ though she probably should have. 

"I also hoped you'd show me the wires. I've been trying to master them myself but..."

"I can do one or the other, kitten," Helen said quietly, refusing to risk hurting herself _that_ badly to please even Livia. Especially since she knew the girl would feel terribly if something happened. "At least, today. We can do the other another time."

"The wires then, if I have to pick one. I can get one of the others to spar with me."

"Okay." Helen didn't apologize, though she did feel a little guilty. Helen put aside the paperwork she was working on and rose quietly, gesturing for Livia to lead the way into the training room. She followed at a steady pace, keeping her breathing even. She moved the wires out a bit, so they were at the width _she_ needed them to be at to work. Somewhere behind her, Katerina was watching, and she knew it.

"Now the most important part of this is that it's going to take a lot of time for you to build up enough strength in your upper body to do this, Livia. So don't worry about it too much at first." Helen was quietly encouraging as she bounced up and took the loops in her hand. Helen moved through a few basic exercises, ignoring the way the ache in her abdomen shifted into a stabbing pain. Still, Helen ignored it and continued, shifting around a few times and showing some of the more advanced things she'd worked up to, before dropping back and settling into the simple ones again.

And then Helen dropped off the loops and landed in a slight crouch. It took her a second longer to hand up than it probably should have, Katerina noticed, but Livia didn't seem to. The younger girl waited for Helen to put them back the way she'd found them, and began to try herself. Helen watched with a contented smile on her face. 

Helen would certainly still be sore in the morning, thanks to that particular exertion, but it was worth it, she thought. 

"You shouldn't push yourself." Katerina chastised quietly.

"I'm fine." Helen maintained without batting an eye. She didn't mind so much if the trainer didn't buy it, but she wasn't going to _admit_ otherwise either. 

"I just don't want to see you hurt, Helen." The other Nephilim said before she let it go, sensing that Helen wasn't going to listen.

Helen didn't respond, instead returning her attention to Livia and verbally correcting her form. Just a few small adjustments and she thought her sister would be just fine. But, that was part of what Helen was here for. Eventually, she did break off, leaving Katerina in control of the training room while she returned to the paperwork Livia had interrupted. _Not_ that Helen minded.

* * *

Helen found herself quietly twisting the Penhallow ring on her finger, a nervous habit she'd had when she wore the Blackthorn ring in the same place. It had been a few weeks ago when Aline had oh-so-tentatively offered her the ring. Helen hadn't expected it. What she'd been _expecting_ was for Aline to quietly tell her that her parents wouldn't allow this, and to return to Idris. What she'd gotten was a promise that Aline would return to her side, even if she _did_ have to go.

In return, Helen had given her the Blackthorn ring that she wore, and anyone who really paid attention would recognize it for what it was - a declaration of their eventual intentions to wed. Helen didn't know _when_ it would be, but the time would come. In the meantime, she was content to wait.

Aline paused in the doorway, clearly uncertain. "Did you want to be alone?"

"You're fine, Aline." Helen smiled slightly in her direction but was laid in a stretched out position on her bed at the moment. In her hands was a notebook that she was writing in, scheduling her time for the next week. "Come in, make yourself at home. I just needed to lay down for a little while."

Aline was perhaps the _only_ one she wasn't coy about her injury with, and that was more out of the necessity of her most common patrol partner needing to know what kind of state she was in. Still, Aline handled the information well, and it made it easier to admit these things to her. She didn't treat Helen like she was going to break.

None of the others ever mentioned Mark in front of her.

Aline ended up settled on the other side of Helen's bed, leaned against the headboard. Helen made no attempt to see what it was in Aline's hands - both of them had a habit of keeping their hands busy even when they were idle. 

"So did the meetings with the downworld leaders go as badly as we were afraid they would?"

"Oh absolutely." Without missing a beat. "I fully expect trouble with the Courts at this rate."

Aline made a sympathetic sound. "Any information about the last victim?"

"Only confirmation that they weren't of either court. I had suspected as much. He seems to have been of the Wild Hunt."

"That... actually exists?"

"All the stories are true," Helen repeated, sounding _almost_ teasing. "Yes, they are. They're quite true and quite dangerous. How the circle subdued and killed one is beyond me." But she _was_ afraid of how the Hunter was going to react. The Wild Hunt was not bound to the courts or to the Accords. They were bound to nothing but the wind and Gwyn's orders, and that made them rather dangerous to toy with.

"I should pull some of the pieces on the hunt from the library later." Helen murmured, half to herself as she made another couple of notes in the journal before her. "With any luck, I won't actually need the information from them, but I'd rather _have_ it than not have reviewed it and need it."

"That makes sense," Aline admitted mildly. "But do you really think they'll end up interacting with us?"

"Probably not. But if they start retaliation or something, there may be a way to reason with them or bargain. That's what the research is for." It was dangerous to do, but better than letting the hunt rip through innocent people. Faeries couldn't lie, but they could be creative with the truth... anyway. That was why she wanted to research, to see what there was on the Hunt. Unfortunately, she just didn't have the links to the courts to _ask_ what they thought of the situation. Not anymore.

The next best thing was doing the research herself, unfortunately, anything she found would be colored through the lens of the Nephilim, but that was... well. It was the best she had, and so be it. 

"So..." Aline began slowly. "My parents want me to come back to Idris for a while. There are going to be a few meetings regarding the situation with Valentine, among other things and mom thinks I should be there." 

"It would be good for one of us to be, and I definitely can't leave right now." Helen shrugged one shoulder slightly. "It's fine if you do go, Aline. We'll hold down the fort."

"I just... I didn't want to-"

"It's fine. When I accepted the ring I told you I'd wait for you." Helen began turning over so she was facing Aline properly. "And this is no different. They're your family, Aline, and there will always be times when we can't be together. It's okay."

Aline frowned for a moment and then nodded. "Thanks." She hadn't realized she needed to hear that from Helen, but clearly... she did.


	3. Chapter 3

Three days later, Aline left for Idris, and life continued almost unchanged within the Institute. Julian and Emma went for their first patrol, accompanied by Emma's father, and Helen gave them her blessing. She finished up another set of paperwork and left it on her father's desk for him to sign and send where it needed to go. That, at least, he had never failed to do, as long as the more time-consuming parts of the process were done.

She tried not to worry about Andrew too much. At least partially because it was too much for Helen to manage on her own, and if she left him outside of what she was trying to do, it was _easier_ in some sense. She could only manage to worry about so many things at once, and while she and Andrew weren't fighting as they had in her teens, there was something... without Mark as a touchstone, there was something about the way he interacted with her that was not very smooth or as gentle as it might've been otherwise.

Helen tried not to think about that, either.

Tried not to think about the way she dreamed of Hunt's hounds or the way her father's poem constantly got under her skin. 

"Nerissa." 

Helen turned sharply, blue-green eyes widening at her father's voice behind her. She stood in the garden of the institute, near a bush of white roses that she'd planted when the woman that she considered to be her mother, the one who had raised her, had died. "It's me, Helen." She corrected, searching his face uncertainly. Her stance was careful, but she didn't know what to expect from him either. He'd never called her that even at their worst. 

"... Helen, of course. That was silly of me."

"It's okay." Helen said, even though it wasn't. Even though she hated the implication that he hated her as much as he seemed to have hated her mother. What was it he saw in her that he disliked so much that he couldn't keep her separate from the woman he'd made a monster in his mind? "Are you okay?"

"I just wanted some air. I remembered the flowers you planted for Eleanor."

"I'll go back inside then," Helen said it quietly drawing away from the roses, and passing close to his side. He didn't say anything to stop her, and she didn't _stop_. Instead, Helen returned to the library and continued her research on the Wild Hunt. It was easier to lose herself in a pile of search than it was to deal with the emotional reality of how narrowly their family was held together. She missed Aline already, but it wouldn’t do to fret.

* * *

It was late that night when Helen returned to her room, and she found herself confused because her window was just slightly open. Helen hadn't left it that way, but it wasn't open enough for something - or someone - to have gotten in. Maybe one of the kids had thought to get a breeze going - mm. It didn't sit right with her.

There was an acorn sitting on the window ledge. Helen picked up the acorn carefully, turning it over in her fingers. The cap of it came off, revealing that the acorn itself was just a shell, holding a bit of paper within it. Only the Fae left messages like this, but Helen wasn't really sure what to expect. It wasn't the way she had established communication with either court. 

The handwriting was elegant, and somewhat hard to read due to the way it flowed on the paper. 

Helen read it three times before she fully understood the weight of the message in her hands. Slowly, she sat down on the side of her bed, still holding the tiny unfolded note between her fingers. Breathe in, and out. 

She set the note down on her bedside table, not entirely sure how she was supposed to send a message _back_ to the one who had left that there. Or how they had known to leave it on her window sil and not one of the others in the house. It implied a level of observation towards their day to day activities that unsettled Helen deeply. 

Still, the request was clear enough. A meeting, the Hunter wanted, a meeting he would have. 

In the end, she wrote a response, offering to meet the hunter at a specific time within the sanctuary of the institute, and then she left the acorn where she had found it, suspecting that Gwyn would have someone check for a response. She made sure to turn the acorn so it was clear that it had been disturbed. 

Helen hoped she was making the right decision.

* * *

The acorn was gone when she came back after dinner, but no message had been left. She took it as a sign that it was safe to close the window (and she locked it, this time). After that though, she left the room again to join the kids in one of the larger rooms for storytime. It was one of those things that had never fallen out of favor, even though they were all much older now. Sometimes they just sat together and read something on their own and then each spent a little time talking about the books they were reading - it worked out better most of the time since all of them had very different interests these days. 

It was good though, for them to get a little bit of time in that wasn't training and was just _bonding_ with family. She didn't tell any of them about the meeting with the Hunter that was to come. Just like the meetings from the downworld, this was her concern, and she would not risk getting them involved unless she had no choice.

Helen found she _always_ had a choice, somehow or some way. It would be harder without Aline present, but she could manage just fine by herself.

She'd have to.

That night was one of the nights they were discussing what they were reading. Ty was going on about detective series he enjoyed, and Drusilla brought up a murder mystery that she was reading. Helen admitted she hadn't had much time to read for pleasure and apologized that she didn't have anything to add.

The conversation continued around her, and she let it, just enjoying their quiet presence. 

Helen loved her siblings, she did. Sometimes, she loved them more than life itself, and she just wished that she could protect them.

But there was something coming, Helen had a feeling, and she wasn't sure for how long it would be possible to totally defend them from it. She just hoped that whatever the meetings in Idris about Valentine came up with, they managed to actually put a damper on the way the Circle was acting. With the Clave coming down harder, it would be easier to control them, instead of working in these isolated cells like they were now. Certainly what Valentine was doing was _not_ isolated. His most recent movements had been in New York, but some of them were clearly still here and acting too.

She wasn't supposed to be thinking about this right now.

Helen asked a question about Livia's book absently, forcing herself to properly rejoin the discussion and avoid getting lost in her own mind. That was the point of these meetings, after all, to try and keep the bonds that Eleanor had worked so hard to forge in them. Mom had been the glue, somehow Helen had to be, now. 


	4. Chapter 4

Helen chose her clothing carefully for that morning and took pains to put her hair back up. It was held in place by an electrum clip. Aline would have teasingly suggested iron - but that made Helen uncomfortable, and didn't work on Hunters anyway. The material was pretty, and the piece was just decorative enough that unless one knew what they were looking at, no one would ever know it could be used in a crisis against a demon. The white bracelet remained on her wrist, quite visible in the halter top that she chose to wear with a three quarter sleeve jacket over the top. Loose pants that wouldn't restrict her movement completed the look. 

Ignoring the injury in her side had become something of an art, and she slipped into the Sanctuary to wait just a little ahead of the appointed time. The young ones had all been warned away from this part of the institute, and Katerina would be keeping Andrew busy enough to ensure _he_ didn't interrupt this meeting. That would go badly, he never did well with the Faeries. Meeting with a Hunter was delicate enough without the _actual_ head of the institute managing to offend him. 

Helen didn't think she could salvage that if it happened, so she was taking great pains to avoid it. The fact that he was meeting with her at all was either a very good sign or a _very_ bad one, and honestly, Helen was a little nervous to find out. 

It wasn't long after the appointed time that the doors opened to admit three figures, two of them hooded such that she could not see their faces, only their figures. The third though... the third could _only_ be Gwyn the Hunter himself. One eye was ink black and the other was the color of the sky. A chill ran down Helen's spine, and it took much of her will to only incline her head and shoulders slightly out of respect to the Faerie.

He nodded slightly in her direction, seeming to accept her greeting as polite. To call him massive was an understatement, though the pair behind him seemed much smaller. "Lady of Thorns, you honor me with this meeting."

"No, I'm the one honored, Hunter." Her voice was quiet, carefully pitched. "And you may call me Helen."

One of the figures shifted as if surprised by her name, but Helen's attention remained focused on the central figure. "Helen then." He repeated as if to test the name. "You may call me Gwyn."

It was not his true name, but no one knew what that might be. Least of all Helen. It didn't matter, with any luck, she would never need be concerned with such detail. 

"To what _do_ I owe this honor?"

"I think you already know the answer to that, little Helen. This senseless killing _must_ end."

Something in his voice sent another thrill of fear down her back, and with it, a twinge entered the wound at her side. She was careful not to show weakness, it would be _dangerous_ to show weakness. "I see. You're right, of course, it must. We at the institute are doing our level best to bring an end to the violence, but it has been a process that we are still working on." The words were not quite practiced though they should have been. His presence kept her on edge. 

She heard one of the two behind the Hunter scoff but also heard Gwyn murmur a name and what she believed was a command to be still. 

"We have captured some of those who are guilty, and are working to locate the rest and route them as well."

"Pretty words, Nephilim." He said quietly. "But they do not tell me what you are doing, nor what you actually _know_ about these killings. It is our blood that is being spilt, Helen. Surely you understand why we expect more than just words."

Helen nodded quietly. "I wish that I had more than words and gestures at this time. The questioning of those we have captured thus far is out of my hands. What we know is that those who are committing these acts against the accords are a fringe group of Nephilim who broke away from the Clave during an event known as the uprising around sixteen years ago." Perhaps slightly more. "They follow the teachings of Valentine Morgenstern and they call themselves the Circle. In practical matters, the Institute has more than four times the coverage of patrols that we did prior to the first killing, and we have a number of Nephilim who have been moved into the area exclusively to assist in the investigation. I am also working in conjunction with the local downworld leaders to offer protection where I can and to investigate anything their people report." She paused and took a breath. "I could go on at length about what I've learned about each victim, and how much of time I have poured into this personally, but the reality is that I know it isn't enough, but we're trying to solve this with the tools that we have."

"It sounds to me as if your clave is not taking this seriously." Helen flinched just fractionally as he spoke. "But you... there is something you have not shared. You are taking this quite seriously."

"I have always considered myself to be a friend of the Downworld." Helen began quietly. "And a year ago the circle attacked myself and a few others on patrol together. One of ours didn't make it out." Her brother, her partner, her closest friend. She didn't say that merely continued to stare forward steadily, meeting bi-colored eyes with no fear. "I'm taking this seriously because these are my friends who are bleeding and afraid for their lives. And no one should live - or die - this way."

Gwyn seemed to consider her words for another moment or two, watching her with a thoughtful expression. They exchanged a few more rounds of words, as he continued to ask her about the investigation. It was both more stressful and more productive than any meeting with the downworld other than Andre had been in months. 

"To aid in the investigation I would offer one of my hunters to remain with you in the institute, as a gesture of good faith that you are doing the best you can, so too should we help."

There was a murmur of protest from one of the two. Helen's attention flicked to them and back to Gwyn. "It is an incredibly generous offer, Gwyn, but I must ask what the... terms of such assistance are." Helen chose the words carefully, not wanting to risk offending him, but neither did she wish to walk blindly into something she should have known was dangerous all along. 

"There is no catch," Gwyn used the word Helen had so painstakingly avoided. "Only that if during the course of the investigation the hunter finds you _are_ complicit in the attacks... there will be consequences, of course."

Helen took a deep breath and released it slowly. Was that it? If it was, it wasn't so bad. A Faerie could not lie, but they could _omit_ the truth. "Of course." Helen agreed - but there would be no such finding. She was confident in that because she _knew_ she had been doing the best she could. "Then I would be honored to accept the assistance of the hunt in this matter, with the understanding that they will be brought to the Clave's justice unless there is absolutely no way to capture them alive."

"That is... acceptable." Gwyn allowed after a moment. "Miach, come here."

The one who had been surprised earlier, but had remained quiet the entire time stepped forward, even as the other protested yet again. Gwyn ignored the third's protest and motioned that 'Miach' should lower his hood.

White blond hair with the slightest of curl to it caught her attention first, and then his eyes. One matched her own, but the other was gold. A quiet numb horror settled over her as understanding dawned. 

"Mark." She whispered, voice barely carrying. She took a slight step forward, then seemed to remember herself, and stepped back, straightening her back and leveling out her expression. But 'Miach' watched her and he too seemed to recognize her.

Gwyn glanced between them for a moment. "If at the end of the investigation Miach wishes to remain here instead of returning to the hunt, then I will release him."

The Hunter swept out of the sanctuary then, taking the third hunter with him without saying anything further. Helen wiped at her face as he went, trying to deny the tears that had begun to fall already as she found herself looking at Mark. 

"It's just us."

"Is it... is it really you?" She whispered as he closed the distance between them. She dissolved, ending up kneeling and wrapping her arms around herself, unable to stop the tears. Mark came to kneel beside her, hesitantly touching her, but afraid he was going to make things worse. He wasn't used to Helen breaking apart so completely. And it had been a year. 

"It's me. It's really me." He whispered, suddenly _remembering_ Helen at least, if not everything that had led up to his becoming a part of the hunt. He hugged her quietly, deciding that there was no harm in his wrapping his arms around her body. She buried her face in his shoulder and cried, and Mark allowed it because there was no reason in his mind to make her push away her emotions. They'd always been able to be honest with each other, at least. "I've got you." He murmured again.

* * *

It took Helen an embarrassingly long time to collect herself enough to apologize to Mark for breaking apart. 

"Don't apologize for having _feelings_, Sister mine." It was gently teasing. "He was impressed by you."

"Gwyn?" She frowned slightly. "He didn't seem impressed. I was just lucky that he decided he didn't want to kill me."

Mark made a noise in the back of his throat. "He was impressed by how you stood before him and were honest without fear. Most cannot do that." 

"I figured showing him I was afraid was akin to showing weakness to a predator." Her tone was dry. "I didn't have any way around him reading my reaction to seeing you though."

"He was just glad to know that by that reaction you weren't going to be particularly rude in his absence. 

"If you say so." Helen wasn't so sure, but perhaps Mark would know better than she would. "Your room is exactly how you left it," Helen said, sounding a little awkward. "I couldn't.. bear to pack it up."

Mark nodded quietly, his expression unreadable. Helen wasn't surprised, it had only been a year, but clearly a lot had happened to them both. "We thought you'd died." She continued, "I didn't... I didn't want to believe it, I didn't really believe you were gone, but we searched for days and days and they never found any trace of you except the elf-bolt."

Helen knew why now, but it had made it hard to keep faith in things, before. She didn't tell him about her rune bleeding, or the screaming agony it put her thought. She didn't tell him - yet - about how significant her injuries from that night were.

"I don't really remember what happened," Mark admitted quietly. "And I didn't really remember more than pieces about anything that happened before the hunt. And then I saw you, and I remembered you. I don't... I don't know how long it will be before I remember more."

"It's okay, even if you never do." Sometimes trauma did that, and certainly, Helen couldn't fault him for being traumatized. Certainly, she had been. "It's probably kinder not to know."

Mark frowned, but didn't argue with her, instead he stood up and offered her a hand up off of the floor. Helen took it gratefully and allowed herself to be helped back up. Her side protested, but less than it might've otherwise. 


	5. Chapter 5

"Is it really him?" Julian asked hesitantly in a bare whisper as he stood beside Helen in the kitchen. Mark was standing across the room, nibbling on some cut fruit that Helen had been making for snacks for the younger ones. 

"Yes, Jules." Helen's voice was earnest. "It's him. Be polite." 

"He doesn't seem the same."

"The hunt changes people." Helen was quiet, her eyes were sad. "And trauma does too. Be kind and be patient. He knows he is home but doesn't entirely know what that means in his heart. Don't make him feel more out of place than he already does."

Julian didn't say anything to that, nodded fractionally instead. "What does dad think?"

"Dad hasn't seen him yet," Helen said finally. "I haven't told him yet, and I... I'm not sure how to."

"Maybe you should before he comes down and just _sees_ Mark."

_Maybe_, Helen allowed mentally. But she was worried that if she told him she wouldn't be believed, and the last thing Helen really wanted to face was the feeling that her father didn't believe her or didn't trust her. And she didn't..she didn't want Mark to have to deal with his unwillingness to believe or understand either. She was afraid that Andrew would reject him, and she was _terrified_ of what that rejection might mean. If... if he didn't feel welcome, then maybe he would choose to go back to the hunt when all was said and done. The choice was his, of course, but Helen didn't know if her heart could take it.

She wouldn't ask him, she would let him decided totally of his own free will. That didn't make it any easier, of course, to face the reality that in the end, he might not choose _her_. And if he didn't choose her then she would never see him again after this mission was completed. 

"I'll talk to him." She said finally. "So say hello." She shooed Jules towards Mark but remained where she was, drinking from the glass of water.

She observed the interaction from afar. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she saw the way the tension slid out of both of their forms after a few moments. The conversation seemed to continue between them, and finally, Helen slipped out of the kitchen, leaving them to it. 

Up the stairs she went, seeking her father's office. She stood outside the door for several moments, taking a deep breath and forcing herself to relax. Her father wasn't _stupid_ and any bit of tension was likely to be read and recognized. Andrew wasn't stupid, he was just depressed, the loss of not one, but two family members had hit him hard, and maybe he would never recover from it. Helen couldn't really fault him for that, even if she did desperately wish that he was more able to really _help_ with the younger children and the institute these days. 

"Hey, dad." Helen greeted as she nudged the door open.

"You had another meeting with the Faeries." He immediately began, watching her through slightly narrowed eyes. "I told you to stop meeting with them, Helen. They're dangerous."

"I couldn't refuse to meet with them, Father." She said it patiently. "They wanted an update on the investigation. I told them what I could about what's going on." 

He scowled at her slightly. "But that's not why I'm here." Helen continued, making sure not to lose his attention. "Mark was found by the Faeries and they healed him. ... He's home and downsta-"

"Whatever the faeries sent to us is _not _your brother Helen." Andrew snapped, eyes flashing. 

Helen took a startled step back at the force of his words. "He's _my_ parabatai. I think I would-"

"They've tricked you. I won't let them trick me. Send it away!"

"I'm not letting you throw out my brother!" Helen shouted back, suddenly enraged at the fact that he _dared_ ask that of her. "He's my parabatai and I would know if the person they sent back wasn't the same. It was. He is. Mark is home. And I'm not going to let you make him feel unwelcome."

"I'm not going to let your delusions confuse your siblings," Andrew growled back.

"They won't be _confused_. They'll be happy their brother is home."

"Their brother is _dead_, Helen. And if you weren't so wrapped up in the Court's illusions you would know that."

Helen turned and walked out of the office, unwilling to say anything more to him, and unable to bear fighting with him either. Helen didn't know what to do or say though, or how to handle the fact that it was clearly imperative that she keep Mark away from Andrew. She couldn't keep it from Mark forever, but neither did she want to outright tell him that their father refused to believe he was alive and home.

Helen leaned against the wall, breathing shallowly with one hand pressed against the scar on her abdomen, trying to remember how to calm down enough to make it stop hurting. But this pain was different, in her heart instead of in her side, and maybe that was the point - maybe she _couldn't_ make it hurt less.

"Helen?" Mark's voice carried slightly down the hall, he was clearly looking for her. He turned the corner before she could move to join him, expression troubled. "Are you okay?"

"We should... we should go somewhere else... and talk," Helen said carefully, quietly. 

Mark looked at her questioningly, and she took his hand in hers, leading the way up another flight of stairs, and then another, until they reached the exit that would let them out onto the roof. It had always been their refuge when they were younger. Helen moved towards one of the sides, sitting so that she could overlook the ocean and see the waves.

"Something's troubling you."

Only a thousand things. She didn't say that instead she frowned a little and then shrugged. "A lot of things, really." She admitted, finally. There had never been secrets between them. With Mark, she had always been able to be herself. She was afraid of being too much, afraid that if she leaned wrong he would stumble and they would both fall. But she didn't want to alienate him by trying to shield him from her heart, either. In the end, that would serve no purpose either. 

"But the important thing ... the thing I should tell you is that Dad... after you went away..." Her shoulders slumped slightly, and she sighed. "Dad hasn't really been the same since. He doesn't like my meeting with the downworlders, but especially the Faeries." 

"He doesn't believe I'm ... me. Does he?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry Mark I tried to explain, to convince him, but he's so sure that I've been tricked."

"That isn't for you to apologize for, Helen." He murmured quietly, brushing his thumb over her cheekbones to wipe away the tears that had started to fall. It was a delicate gesture. "You told him the truth, he chooses not to believe it. That is not your fault. We'll work around it. Maybe with time, he'll understand."

Helen didn't think so, but she appreciated that Mark was willing to at least consider working around the fact that Andrew didn't believe in him. 

"I'm sorry I'm such a mess." There was a time where this wouldn't have fazed her enough to bring her to tears, but the loss had weighed heavily on _her_ too, and she knew she wasn't being tricked, but didn't want to fight with her father, and didn't want to believe he was lying either. It made for... a very complicated relationship with reality. 

Mark didn't say anything, just settled down beside her and looped an arm loosely around her properly. Helen shifted slightly and tucked against his side for just a few moments, allowing herself to take comfort and strength from the fact that he was real and warm beside her.

"Tomorrow night we'll go on patrol," Helen said quietly.

"Why not tonight?"

"If you want to go with Emma and Julian, you're welcome to." Helen murmured. "But I can't be spared from the institute until tomorrow night."

She couldn't tell him the truth of her injuries, not yet. Couldn't tell him she needed another day of rest before it would be _safe_ for her to engage in a patrol. Not without bringing up the fateful night that had separated them, and since he did not remember it, she wasn't sure that was a wise idea. ... So, she was going to avoid it for now. Eventually it would be unavoidable, but for now... well, for now, she was going to hold it off while she still could. 

Helen didn't think that making him remember before he was ready would really... help anything. So she was going to try to avoid to awaken it in him sooner than she had to. ... On... the other hand, if they were going to be patrolling together instead of her bringing Katerina with her, then he probably needed to know, because she fought differently than he was used to. Well...

Helen put it aside for the moment, remaining leaned against his side. "It's good to have you home, even if only for now." Helen murmured.

Mark shifted slightly so his cheek leaned against her hair. "It's good to be with you again, Helen. To know what was missing."

Helen didn't _miss_ the fact that he didn't say it was good to be home, or that he didn't make any effort to say that he intended to stay.


	6. Chapter 6

Mark had taken her up on Helen's offer that he could go out with Jules and Emma. Julian reported that Mark had seemed antsy but that the patrol had gone smoothly. They'd spoken with a few of the pack members who mentioned spotting unknown Nephilim in a certain area of their territory. Helen made a note of the descriptions that had been given and the location, with the intent of exploring that place more thoroughly herself with Mark the next night.

"Thank you for checking in with them for me Jules."

"Any time." He sounded sincere. "I know you're going through a lot, Helen. Just... say the word and I'll do whatever I can."

"I appreciate it," Helen said genuinely before waving him off. "Go relax."

Mark found her in her room a little while after that, having taken a shower and changed into something comfortable to wear.

"How did they do?" Helen asked him without batting an eye - curious of his impression without letting him know that she'd already spoken with Julian about how things went.

"I don't know when they got so big." He grumbled, wrinkling his nose. "But the patrol went fine enough. No real action, but that's not a _bad_ thing by any means."

Helen nodded knowingly. 

"It just also wasn't the same as patrolling with you."

Helen laughed a little. "You'll get used to it." She promised lightly. "But, like I said, I'll be able to go with you tomorrow. We'll probably check out the strange Nephilim sighting that the wolves mentioned."

Mark nodded. "It sounded like a good place to start. It was simply too late for us to go there."

"It was wise not to go without letting anyone else know where," Helen said immediately. "I wouldn't have wanted it to be the three of you without anyone knowing that backup might be necessary." Not after the attack that had taken Mark away from her. No, that wasn't acceptable at all. 

Mark inclined his head slightly. "Will we be taking back up then?"

"We will go in ahead, Katerina and Emma's parents will be on standby, in case we run into trouble."

Mark nodded, accepting the explanation easily enough. 

* * *

Mark nudged the door open to her room without warning. "I thought you might need help with ru-" He cut himself off, startled to see Helen carefully working her way into gear. At the moment though, she was still wearing a crop top that just covered her chest but left her abdominal region bare and for the first time, he saw the vicious scarring. 

"What... happened?"

"Seraph blade, coated in holy water and edged in cold iron, from what the Silent Brothers could figure out. Made me sick for ages, because it turned out some of the iron was left behind in the wound and then healed into my body. By the time they realized... well." She shrugged. "The attackers had done their research."

"Was this... the attack that we were separated in?"

Helen nodded. "If it weren't for Aline I would have probably bled to death on the street."

Mark was quiet for a moment, seeming to consider things. "It still hurts you," It was a statement, not a question, but Helen nodded anyway. 

"I was going to tell you," She began carefully, "Because I can't fight the way I used to. I've fallen back to using a bow primarily because I can do that with less risk of being up close and personal if something goes wrong."

"Helen you shouldn't have kept this from me."

"I was afraid if I made you remember too soon..." She looked away. "It doesn't matter what I thought. I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner." The first time he'd asked about why they weren't patrolling, maybe. Or something. 

Helen took the stele into her hand, fully intending to start to rune herself, and he took it from her instead. "What runes do you need and where?" He asked calmly. "I can still draw runes, let me use the Parabatai bond. Maybe it will help."

Helen began to tell him what runes she wanted, remaining quietly still while he drew them for her. 

"If this is going to work, Helen, you're going to have to trust me." Mark finally said, quietly. 

"I do trust you," Helen said it simply and firmly. "I trust you with my life, Mark." She just didn't want to put too much on him too quickly and cause him to break or run away. "I just honestly didn't want to put too much on your shoulders too soon. I've been working around this injury for a year. I'll be okay."

Mark nodded quietly, accepting that. "Are we going to patrol alone tonight?"

"Tonight, yes. The next few after... there is a shadowhunter coming in from one of the Mexican institutes for her travel year, I've planned to get her caught up to speed by having her patrol with us if you're alright with it. If not I was going to put her with Jules and Emma. ... Possibly a hybrid of both."

Mark nodded slightly. "That sounds reasonable." 

"Did you want any runes?"

"No." Mark pulled away to prevent Helen from beginning to draw on him. "I don't need any, but thank you."

Helen didn't ask and didn't argue, merely tucking the stele away in case she needed it later. 

"Is there anything else I should know before we leave?"

"Just that I love you." She said with a slight smile tugging at her lips. She finished securing her gear quietly and then tied her hair back so that it was out of her way. Helen stretched slowly, a bit like a cat, and then rose from the bed fully.

Andrew met them in the hall and scowled slightly. "I thought I told you-"

"We're going on patrol," Helen announced firmly, cutting him off before he could finish the statement. "Don't wait up, it'll be a long one." She turned and walked down the hall before Andrew could say anything more, and Mark took a cue from her and said nothing before following her down the hall and out of the institute itself.

There was something _freeing_ about being in the open air with Mark at her side. For a short while, they were silent as they continued to walk together, enjoying the night air. Helen set the course and the pace, heading for where the pack had seen the strangers. 

When they _did_ talk it was about lighter topics. Tentatively Helen asked Mark about the hunt, but he didn't seem to have any problem at all answering. Mark talked at length about the Hunt and mentioned a 'Kieran' more than once. It also happened that he casually mentioned a bit of lore about the hunt that Helen didn't think much of, about the cloak of Gwyn the hunter and how anyone who held the cloak had power over the hunt.

Helen changed the subject quickly, pulling him down another conversation path, not sure that that was something he should have shared, but also well aware that she was the only one who had heard and _she_ wouldn't use it. As long as no one else knew he said it, it was safe. She'd mention it later, that she didn't think he should repeat that for anyone else.

They arrived at the location and fanned out slightly, searching for any signs that there had been something going on here.

Helen and Mark found nothing, nothing more than someone's lost witch light. Still, the witch light said someone had been there, whether it was someone who _shouldn't_ have been or not was up in the air. Helen swept the area one more time, but there wasn't a drop of blood or a hint of anything strange. Eventually, they had to leave but Helen went around the perimeter one last time before returning to Mark's side and continuing onto the patrol. 

True to Helen's word, it was a longer one than normal, though they didn't run into any demons until around halfway through. Even then, the one they _did_ run into was a Shax demon, and they managed to overcome it together without too many risks being taken.

"Quiet night."

"Mm." Helen nodded. "It has been, it's nice but kind of strange." 

Mark gave a quiet murmur of agreement. "Are we about done?"

"One more loop through this area, and then yes, we'll head back."

Slipping back into the Institute was easy enough, Helen ghosted through the halls to check on the kids and make sure everyone was home and safe and where they should be. They were all safe, and where they were supposed to be. It made Helen feel better. 

* * *

There was a body found the very next morning, this one was a pack member who lived near where the strangers had been spotted. She was found within the building that Helen and Mark had searched so thoroughly. It left something of a sick feeling in Helen's stomach, just the fact that that had happened despite all their preparations. But it also confirmed that the sighting was linked, even though they hadn't _found_ anything. 

Mark went with her to get pictures of the body. 

"When we came here there was nothing out of place."

"That only confirms what we already knew," Helen continued quietly as she crouched beside the body, "that the attacks are happening at a third location."

"So here's a question," Mark continued without pausing. "How _are_ they moving the victims without ever being seen with the kind of alert we _and_ the downworlders are on?"

It was a good question, one that Helen _wished_ she knew the answer for. "Normally I would say a portal, but there's no way a warlock would be complicit in this."

"Correction, no way a warlock you _know_ would be. There were demonic runes on the bodies too, right? Especially the earlier ones?" Mark pressed, and Helen nodded. 

"One specific one, always at the base of the spine between the hips. There's one on her too."

"I'm just saying we should consider that there _may be_ a warlock working against the accords with them."

"He's right," Andre said quietly. "I think it's something we have to consider. I know you were out here last night for an age, the pack saw you examining the building and the whole area around it. We never stopped watching this place, but we never saw them leave her here."

It was a troubling thought, but Helen didn't know what else to think, so she nodded fractionally. "That _is_ rather telling." And she didn't know of any other way for them to have gotten into the building without being seen. "It's something I hadn't considered before," She admitted quietly. 

It was something none of them _wanted_ to think about, certainly. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Violence and some blood.

They returned to the institute sometime later, allowing the pack to tend their dead because there was nothing else to do now that they had gotten the information they needed and talked through the most recent theory. She and Mark continued to discuss their options quietly as they approached. 

Neither was quite expecting the sight of Gwyn the Hunter standing with another hunter. One she didn't recognize, but Mark clearly did. There was a lightness in Mark's eyes.

"Kieran!" He greeted warmly, but before he could move forward to embrace the other, a look from Gwyn stopped him and he faltered slightly, confusion going across his face.

Helen remained back a few paces, watching the scene with uncertainty. 

"You broke the law." Gwyn's voice was quiet, _almost_ apologetic. "You told a shadowhunter of one of our greatest secrets, Mark Hunter. There must be consequences."

_Kieran_, Helen thought, looked far too pleased with himself. He'd done this, he'd overheard their conversation that Helen had convinced herself was harmless because she alone heard it. 

"And what consequences have been chosen?" Mark asked, voice quiet, almost resigned. 

"Twenty lashes."

"What?" Kieran seemed surprised. "Shouldn't he just-"

"I gave my word that he would see the investigation through to the end."

"No," Helen said flatly. "You can't do this."

"One of the oldest of our laws was broken, and the transgression must be punished. Surely a Nephilim understands that."

"Lex malla, Lex nulla." Helen responded icily. 

"Helen, it's fine. I'll face my punishment."

"No," Helen repeated, stepping forward. "If they will whip someone, it will be me." 

"Helen, _no._"

"I won't let them hurt you again." There was a fierceness in her tone, a protectiveness in her eyes. Helen had seen the scars on him when he'd come out of a shower wearing nothing but a loose pair of pants, unthinking of the scars on his skin. She knew what the Hunt had done to him to make him one of them. She knew that as much as they were family to him now too, they had _hurt_ him. And Helen couldn't stand to allow it to happen again. "You are my little brother, and I will not stand by and watch you bleed. I should have stopped the topic last night, it was at least as much my fault as yours." She met the hunter's gaze steadily and noted something like regret in his eyes. "Bare skin, is that it?" She pressed forward, deliberately ignoring the obvious protest.

"Helen, please."

"You can go inside if you don't want to watch."

"No. He will stand and observe the punishment." Gwyn said firmly. "That he remembers the price of his actions."

Helen didn't say anything more, instead sliding the black shirt up and over her head revealing only the tube top she wore beneath it. Revealing the scars on her abdomen to the hunter for the first - and hopefully last - time. Kieran, she noted, almost looked sick. _Good_, she thought fiercely. This _was_ his fault.

Helen stepped forward to set herself against the tree that Gwyn motioned to. Twenty lashes.

The first was excruciating as it tore through the relatively unmarred skin of her back. Helen didn't have to _see_ it to know it had ripped skin away from her body and left a bloody strip. She lost count of the strikes and was merely thankful she didn't have to _give_ the count. She could hear Mark's protests from behind, and some part of her could sense Mark's rage - probably in Kieran's direction. Surely he knew just as much as Helen did that the Hunter was guilty.

She tried to remain quiet. Mostly, she was successful, though there were more than a few times where a noise of pain escaped between her clenched teeth. By the time it was over, Helen was more or less blind with pain, and the sensation of blood running down her back only hurt more. It took her several moments to make an attempt to stand, and even then she only managed it by leaving a hand against the tree as she did so. 

Helen mostly tried not to think about how much moving was going to hurt, and stayed like that for a moment. Mark joined her at the tree, but despite the fact that he reached for her, he stopped, afraid it seemed, of making things that much worse. 

"Is it done? Are you satisfied?" Mark asked, eyeing both of the hunters from his place at her side. 

"It is done." Gwyn agreed. 

Helen barely noticed the hunters leave.

"Where is your stele?" Helen didn't answer, fishing it out for him and handing it to him, but she remained leaned against the tree, her eyes closed against the pain. Her breathing was shallow and perhaps slightly too fast. She trembled as she felt the stele against her skin. 

Helen didn't know how long they stayed there, in that part of the garden, where her blood soaked the ground. She didn't know when he guided her from standing against the tree to leaning against it in a sitting position again, to get the strain off of herself. She _certainly_ didn't know how many times he drew a healing rune on her skin and waited for it to take effect before drawing another, and another. All she knew was that he was there, and that was enough for her. 

It was nearly sunset before the pain had abated enough for Helen to be totally aware of her surroundings again. Mark still hadn't moved her inside - she didn't blame him. 

"I don't regret what I did," Helen said quietly.

Mark sighed. "I know you don't." Because he'd seen the look in her eyes, and logically he _knew_ why Helen had chosen to do what she did. And in a sense, Mark also knew that he would have done the same thing under those circumstances. It didn't make it any easier to watch her suffering with these injuries that should have been _his_. 

"There will be scars."

"I'm sure," Helen responded without missing a beat. "You bear them too." 

Helen pulled her shirt back on carefully, mindful of the still-healing portions of her back. She stood slowly, and Mark joined her, watching closely and fully prepared to half-support her if it came down to it. Helen remained standing there under her own power, though there was a slight wave of light-headedness that hung around.

"We should probably go inside. I should take a shower and change into something clean. And then food would be good for us both." Her tone was reasonable. 

Mark nodded quietly. "You're right."

"...You didn't have to take care of me by yourself though. You could've-"

"I wasn't going to leave you alone, and I wasn't going to risk the young ones seeing either." He shrugged. "It wasn't like I didn't know how to help you." Besides, it had felt safer, if it was just the two of them, rather than involving someone who might tell Andrew or something like that. He didn't add that, but they _both_ knew that their father would not have taken what happened out here very well.

Helen nodded, accepting that answer, before taking his hand and leading him towards the institute's door. Mark allowed it, only because he recognized it was partially her giving herself a touchstone to get through the dizziness with. 

"Where have you two been?" Katerina pounced on them practically the second they entered. 

"We went out to deal with the body, spent a lot of time talking to the pack. Lost track of time." Helen spoke up first, tone apologetic. "Sorry about that."

Against all odds, somehow, Katerina took that and accepted it as the truth. "I started dinner," The Nephilim said finally. "You two go get cleaned up, it'll be ready by the time you're done."

Maybe she _didn't_ accept it as the truth but didn't want to argue. Either way, Helen murmured a thank you and turned towards the stairs. Showering and changing offered somewhat unique difficulties with the injuries that she had leftover, but it was nothing that Helen wasn't able to manage. 

Andrew joined them for dinner.

Mark sat at the table beside Helen. There was a tense silence at first, but Andrew didn't acknowledge Mark's presence at all when he finally engaged the others at the table. The siblings exchanged glances around the table, and none of them contradicted him. Once or twice Julian repeated something Mark said, deliberately to get a response.

Mark looked rather unhappy by the end of the meal. Helen couldn't blame him, it was... a particular brand of childishness that she hadn't anticipated before Andrew insisted that the one the hunters left could not be her brother.

Eventually, Helen excused herself and began to collect dishes from the table. Mark joined her in doing so, and they both retreated into the kitchen properly to start to wash dishes and to get out from under Andrew's icy looks. 

"I appreciate the excuse to get out of there."

"I thought you might," Helen said simply. "Do you want to wash or dry?"

"I'll dry." 

Helen nodded and started warming up the water. They made reasonably short work of the dishes that they'd collected, and then the rest of them that Julian brought shortly thereafter, from those who had still been finishing when Helen decided she'd had quite enough of dinner time. 

"You must be Cristina." Helen greeted as the unfamiliar shadowhunter walked into the kitchen with a mug in her hands.

"I am. You must be Helen?"

"Yes, I am. And this is Mark. I know the original plan was for you to patrol with us tonight but something came up, so you have a choice. We can do a briefing in the library, but you stay in tonight, or you can go ahead and patrol with Julian and Emma who should be going out in the next hour, and we can do a briefing tomorrow before we patrol in the evening."

Cristina seemed to consider that for a moment. "I think I'm going to go ahead and patrol with Julian and Emma tonight then."

Helen nodded. "They should be prepping in the weapons room then, you'll want to join them." Helen took the mug out of her hands to wash, and let her go.

"She seems nice."

Helen laughed shortly. "She has a bit of an interest in the downworld in general, and faeries in particular." Helen filled in. "So she was pretty well prepared for us."

"That explains everything." 

Didn't it though? Helen didn't say anything more than that on the topic of their new guest. 


	8. Chapter 8

"And this one, Tavvy?" Helen held up a card with a rune drawn on it. 

"Mnemosyne?"

"Very good!" Helen encouraged with a smile before holding up the next card. 

"Insight or foresight."

Mark joined them then, watching curiously but not interfering. 

"And this one?"

"I don't... remember." He mumbled.

"That's fine," Helen soothed. "I was just asking. It's the fortis rune."

"Fortis," Tavvy repeated, studying the card carefully one more time before sitting back properly. 

Helen offered the cards to Mark and let him take Tavvy through a few rounds while she sat by for the moment finishing up a few notes for the meeting with Cristina later. It didn't take her long to get a quick write up of what they knew so far even accounting for enough detail that she could pick up with them and not be without any idea what they were doing or where they were going with the investigation. 

Helen didn't want there to be many unanswered questions for the newcomer, as it wouldn't really serve Cristina any to be out of the loop. And it was _hard_ to be a shadowhunter in LA without getting wrapped up in the investigation in some sense. Every interaction with the downworld was colored by it, after all, and there was no way to get around that. Unfortunate, but it was still reality. Normally Helen wouldn't have had her go out _at all_ without knowing about the investigation in reasonably solid detail, but she'd been with Emma and Julian, and at least the two could keep her from making a mistake. 

Helen and Mark could, too, but it was better if they didn't have to. And better still that Cristina be prepared in case she ventured out on her own at some point. She was likely to, after all, eventually. It was far better that she know what she might be getting into before she ever tried to leave the institute without guidance. Most of the downworld would be kind enough, but there were certainly portions of it that would be less than sure of her, especially since she was new and wouldn't be recognized. For many of them, an unknown shadowhunter _was_ a threat. And with good reason, Helen knew. 

"The flashcards are a nice touch," Mark mentioned when Tavvy finally had to go because he had additional training with Katerina to participate in. 

"Tavvy likes them," Helen said with a shrug. "It was Livia's idea. But it lets him practice with the shapes a little more, and we just keep adding the new ones he learns to the pile." Eventually, it wouldn't work anymore, because he'd know too many. But by then, maybe they could take out the oldest ones, the ones that he had mastered. Or break them into different groups based on how long he'd been working on them. They'd figure something out if the cards still proved to be helpful by then.

"An extra method of remembering the different ones can't hurt."

"Basically." Helen shrugged slightly. "So, I'm meeting with Cristina after lunch in the library, if you want to join me. If not, Katerina should be open for sparring, or you can pass the time reading or... whatever you prefer." Helen realized as she spoke that it was fully possible that Mark didn't really enjoy reading the way he once had.

Mark didn't seem to be affected by the awkward phrasing of Helen's words, offering her a fractional smile. "I'll sit in on the meeting."

"I wasn't sure you'd want to, it's all the information you've already heard..."

"I'm not as familiar with the newer victims, and besides, I might as well get at least a little familiar with her, since we'll be patrolling together tonight."

Helen nodded, accepting that because there wasn't any reason _not_ to. He did have a good point about being familiar with her _before_ they were on patrol together, after all. It would give them a chance to get comfortable and maybe after they talked about the investigation they could get into preferences towards combat and general styles to see how they would mesh together best. They could also talk out their general plans and path for the night... and okay, that was fair, all three of them being at the table would be rather productive

* * *

The patrol that night was smooth. They faced off and downed a few low-level demons, and talked a little more about the investigation than they had in the library. Cristina asked questions about where the victims were found, clearly trying to figure out if there was some kind of a pattern to where they were being found. Helen didn't blame her, but also didn't expect her to find anything, after all of her own attempts to do the same. Still, fresh eyes had found surprising things before.

"So, we think a warlock is helping?"

"It seems to be likely, despite the fact that we'd rather not have had to consider it," Helen admitted. "The last victim was found in a location that was under close surveillance by the wolf pack. And we had examined the inside of the building just the night before she was found."

Cristina frowned a little but nodded. "That makes sense. But why would a group of people murdering downworlders be working with one?"

"Convenience," Helen said immediately. "Same reason Nephilim still regard warlocks with disdain but rely on them for help with healing." She hadn't skipped a beat. "What I don't know is why a downworlder would assist in the massacre of their own people. Unless..." Hm. "Unless the circle isn't making it clear what they're moving when the portals are being created."

"That seems unlikely since typically the warlock hangs around while you go through the portal."

"... Blackmail?" Cristina offered thoughtfully as they turned a corner. 'I mean, if this warlock, for example, had something they wanted to protect... and the Circle said hey help us and we won't murder you or that someone they want to save..."

"You might be on to something," Helen said thoughtfully. "It's certainly a motive to consider. But we won't really know until we actually _find_ these people."

Helen's attention swept the area closely as they talked, unwilling to allow herself to be caught off guard by an enemy, and half on the lookout for someone eavesdropping on them since it had already happened once. She had to wonder if it had been under orders or of his own volition that this _Kieran_ had acted. Maybe it didn't matter.

"We're being followed." Helen finally said after noting the same figure at the same distance for the third time. After they'd been ambushed by the Circle, she'd learned how to recognize if someone _was_ trailing her. And Kieran's actions made her hyper-aware of the fact that it could happen again. The _last_ thing she wanted was for the circle to catch them unawares. 

Mark glanced over his shoulder and frowned. "I'll deal with it."

"Mark-" 

She saw the gesture he made and stayed where she was with Cristina as he moved towards the figure.

"Miach-"

"Kieran, leave." His voice was cold. 

"I wanted to-"

"I don't want your apologies. I want you to leave."

"You say that, but your eyes tell a different story." Kieran murmured, reaching out as if to touch the side of Mark's face.

Mark knocked his hand away, expression turning from placid to enraged. "I said _leave_, Kieran. I don't want to have this conversation right now." 

It was not _never_ simply not _now_. Not while the memory of watching his sister beaten for Kieran's actions was so strong. Yes, Mark had been the one who said something he shouldn't have, but Helen would never have used that information to be a threat, and Mark knew it. He shouldn't have _said_ it, but neither should Kieran have followed him and listened in on private conversations with his sister. Who knew what else the Hunter had heard, and it bothered him. 

"And my name is Mark, not Miach." He added, almost as an afterthought before turning and walking away to return to the pair he was patrolling with.

"You never minded Miach before." Kieran finally did back away with those words, hair a darker shade of blue than normal as he faded into the night finally. 

"Was it that one from the Hunt?" Helen asked carefully. 

Mark nodded once. "It was Kieran. He wanted to _apologize."   
_

Helen made a slight noise indicating that she'd _heard_ but had nothing really to say on the topic for a moment, before finally going with, "He has interesting timing for that."

Mark snorted but said nothing more, not wanting to get onto the topic with Cristina present, since they'd managed to get through it without anyone but the Hunters and themselves _knowing_ what happened that day. They both seemed to want to keep it that way, and Cristina was new enough that there were details that she didn't necessarily _need_ about their personal lives.

"Did you say the hunt? Like the Wild Hunt?"

"Yes," Mark confirmed without pausing. "I spent time with the wild hunt after the incident a year or so ago. It's... a little complicated." That was an understatement, but it did make it clear that he didn't want to talk about it any further, and Cristina picked up on that rather immediately.

He could at least be thankful that she had a solid awareness of general cues, especially since Mark wasn't as good at them as he once had been.

* * *

"I stand by my initial statement that I like this Cristina."

"I can tell, you were flirting with her." Helen teased without batting an eye.

"I was- I was not." 

"If you say so." Helen let the topic go immediately, but she knew what she had seen and would maintain that there was definitely flirting going on there. She'd _done_ enough of it in the last year. 

"So how long before I get to become reacquainted with your fiancee?" Mark asked, deciding to let the topic remain changed.

"Don't know. It depends on how long the Clave deliberates over this mess with Valentine. There have been some... things going on in New York. I don't have all the details, I just know there was a significant battle, apparently. Lots of demons and the Silent Brothers were seriously decimated. The Clave will have to do _something_ of course. But... figuring out _what_ seems to be... a process."

"One would think what to do is rather obvious. Valentine is a traitor isn't he?"

"Mm. You know nothing is ever simple with the Clave, and Valentine has at least two of the mortal instruments. Rumor has it he may try to raise Raziel if he can figure out the mirror's location."

Mark looked slightly stricken, and honestly, Helen _agreed_. Who knew what Valentine would do if he managed to raise the Angel, but it couldn't be anything good. And perhaps it was most pressing for the two of them because they were _half-bloods_. They weren't safe just because they were Nephilim, that had been proven a year ago when they had nearly been killed just for existing while on patrol - by their own kind.

A fire message burst into life, and then fluttered down onto the table in front of Helen, she flipped it over and noticed immediately that it was written in Aline's handwriting.

The message was short, but it left a chill in the air.

"Helen, what is it?"

"The wards in Idris fell. ... Only for a short while, but... there were demons in the city. Aline's okay, they're still trying to work out if there were any casualties. But no one was expecting..." Demons in _Idris_ of all places. 

Mark was quiet for a moment, clearly trying to process what she'd just said. Helen understood the sentiment, keeping her attention on the letter while she tried to consider the situation as neutrally as she could manage. There had been a breach of the wards in the Glass City. Wards that had been unpierced for as long as Idris had stood had been breached, and as of that moment, no one knew how it had happened.

"What does this mean?"

"Maybe that we're all in a lot more danger than anyone realized," Helen mumbled, expression still troubled. "But they've got it under control, and for now they've gotten the wards back up and are continuing planning for what is to come."

"Helen!" Dru rushed into the room, looking frightened, and interrupting her train of thought before she could go any further.

"There's a man in the sanctuary. He's... he's hurt. It's that faerie that used to be the ambassador from the court."

_Faolan._ Helen rose immediately from where she was seated at the table. "Thank you for telling me, Dru. Go ahead and go upstairs and start getting ready for bed. I'll join you to tuck you in in a bit."

The younger girl nodded and obeyed, Helen moved towards the sanctuary with Mark following closely behind. Helen found precisely what she expected to when she pushed open the Sanctuary door. The angry edges around the wound had the tell-tale signs of burning that indicated the wound had been inflicted with cold iron. Faolan was sitting on one of the benches in the room, but clearly conscious, a fact for which Helen was glad. 

"I didn't... I couldn't make it back with this injury."

Helen wasn't surprised. That he'd made it _here_ from wherever he'd been attacked was almost impressive. "Who did this? What happened?" She asked as she began to examine the injury. He didn't stop her. 

"Your _Circle_ friends did this. I was doing some investigating of my own."

"Mark," Helen half turned to face him. "In the infirmary, there should be a jar of salve labeled with my name on the shelves on the east side. Bring it here, please."

He murmured an ascent and left the sanctuary.

"What for?"

"It'll neutralize the damage being done by the iron," Helen answered without skipping a beat. "Tell me what you found, if you can."

"Not as much as I wanted. I almost managed to track them back to their headquarters, I believe. We passed through a set of wards that revealed me." Another sign that a warlock was involved, Helen noted. "It wasn't far, I also overheard something...about an attack."

"There was an attack on Idris tonight."

"That might have been it." He acknowledged. 

"This?" Mark asked, holding the jar out curiously. 

Helen nodded and took it from him. "Yes, thank you."

"It is good to see the lost one is home." 

Helen shot Faolan a strange look at those words. "The Hunt is graciously allowing him to assist in the investigation." Was what she said finally as she opened the jar and spread the salve along the edges of the injury. True to her word the angry red began to abate. "Did you fight with them when they attacked?"

"I killed the one that stabbed me if that's what you're asking," Faolan said shortly. "And I managed to escape without the others following."

Helen nodded a little, accepting that answer. Finally, she rocked back on her heels slightly, the wound was coated in salve and then carefully bandaged. It would take _time_ to heal, but Faolan already seemed to be doing better.

She withdrew a little from him to give him space to breathe now that the tending was done.


	9. Chapter 9

"I'm surprised he didn't stay."

"I'm not," Helen said quietly. "He never does. He and Father..." Her voice trailed off. "They don't get along at all. They managed to work together in tolerance over a victim or two but it was... very tense." Moreso than usual with Faeries. "He seems to prefer to avoid the conflict. But he'll be okay." Helen trusted that much at least. They'd tended his injury, and he'd been confident leaving. Helen had to trust that he could take care of himself.

"There's something about him..."

"He's a knight of the Seelie court."

"That's not what I meant. Something else. He's awfully familiar with us."

Helen shrugged fractionally. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. He's been nothing but helpful." Helen maintained in a reasonable tone. 

"I do wonder why father dislikes _him_ particularly."

Helen shrugged again, clearly unsure. "Father is... not very tolerant of Faeries. I wouldn't put too much stock into his reactions." Helen had sort of just begun to accept that fact. It was sad, perhaps, to disregard his concerns, but it was also the only way to function when it came to dealing with the courts. 

"I guess you're right." After all, their father still hadn't accepted _him_ back. It was... upsetting, actually. But he tried not to focus on that. 

"We should probably at least try to get some rest," Helen said finally. "It's been a long day. ... And night." 

Mark laughed shortly but nodded. "You're right Goodnight, Helen."

"Goodnight."

Sleep didn't come easily as Helen found herself dwelling on Faolan's mention of an attack. Perhaps it had been the attack on Idris, but what if it hadn't been? What if... there was something else planned? Or another attack on the Glass City?

Eventually, she managed to push those thoughts away and allowed herself to rest, albeit fitfully.

* * *

The next day Helen spent the morning in the training room. Sparring with Livia, at first. Katerina insisted on it being a _light_ spar, so they weren't moving at full speed or using anything close to full force. The concentration was on proper form and using the right blocks in response to a given attack or series of attacks. It was less straining on Helen than anything else would have been, and it meant that when they were done she would be able to spend a little time working with the bow after.

Mark joined them eventually, and he ended up sparring with Livia and Ty both at the same time. Helen fell back and watched, quite interested in how the twins would manage against him. 

"He's still so good with them."

Helen rolled her eyes slightly. "He's the same person he's always been." She pointed out calmly. 

"He seemed... different at first."

"Trauma does that. Not being sure if anyone would welcome him but me does too." There were things that Katerina would never really understand. This was probably one of them, Helen knew. "I'm glad the kids accepted him back among them with no struggle though." She'd been worried, at first, how Ty would take the change. But Ty, it seemed, was just happy to have his brother back home. It was nice to see since Mark had always had a good relationship with Tiberius. 

Helen finally turned away from the match to work on her own marksmanship for the moment. Occasionally she would glance over and look, but mostly, she knew what she needed to do, and so did they. 

After training Helen made her way into the kitchen to get something together for lunch for everyone. Things were made simpler by the fact that Helen had sort of a meal plan set up and scheduled out over a period of time. This made it easier for Ty when they weren't necessarily making the same things. He could at least see and prepare himself for what _was_ going to be made. 

Lunch was always an affair that was grabbed and eaten on the run. Today that was simple, sandwiches and some sliced fruit for a side. She left everything covered and in the fridge, for the others to grab and get together when they were ready, and she took her plate and settled to working on some of the paperwork. A report of her progress on the investigation, including information gotten from Faolan last night was first, and when she finished a few of the request forms that her father hadn't gotten around to yet. 

Helen slipped into Andrew's office to set the paperwork on his desk. "Request forms, and my report on the investigation so far."

Andrew nodded. "Thank you, Helen." Was the murmured response. 

"Is there anything else I can help with?"

Andrew looked up for a moment, and then back down at his desk. "You can get that faerie out of my home."

"Anything _else_?" Helen asked, not engaging with the statement beyond that. 

"No."

"I'll talk to you later then," Helen said simply before slipping out of the office and closing the door. 

"Are you okay?" Cristina asked.

Helen jumped slightly and half-turned to face the girl, nodding. "I'm fine. Was just turning in some reports about the investigation. The Clave's keeping close tabs on it." For obvious reasons. "Did anyone mention lunch was down in the kitchen? There are sandwiches and cut fruit."

"Oh, no. They didn't. I'll get something though, thank you."

Helen smiled, "You're welcome." 

"Are we patrolling tonight?"

She nodded. "Yep, you're with Mark and me again tonight. We've got an area we're going to sweep. Katerina's coming with us."

"Must be some area."

"One of my downworld contacts was stabbed entering it last night," Helen explained. "We're taking precautions, but we need to investigate what's going on there."

Cristina nodded. "Around sunset then?"

"Yep. We'll meet you in the weapons room."

* * *

"There's something wrong about this," Helen said as they approached the area that Faolan had mentioned the wards appearing in.

"You get that feeling too, hm?" Mark was frowning as they moved around. 

"It's possible that they moved when Faolan escaped." Katerina pointed out, "Isn't it?"

Helen nodded. "It's possible." She allowed. "But I'm just... I'm worried. He said something about an attack planned. At the time we sort of dismissed it as the attack on Idris but..." What if there was something else? What if something _else_ happened?

The group pressed forward, fanning out a little to cover more ground in the area and to try and get a look at the buildings. 

They were still working through the area when a fire message burst into existence. Helen caught it and read it twice, the color draining from her face.

"Helen?" Mark asked, suddenly by her side with a hand resting against her forearm. "What happened?"

"The institute is under attack. We have to go back _now_." The message in her hands had been written by Julian, she recognized the handwriting.


	10. Chapter 10

When they arrived, the situation was just as dire and Helen was afraid it would be.

There were around a dozen demons scattered around the wards, which had yet to be pierced. There were shadowhunters within the wards, currently engaging with Andrew, Julian, and the Carstairs. Helen paused at a distance and considered the scene before her. The wards _should_ hold, Helen knew, but if there was something working to pierce them along with the demons... just a slight gap would be all that was necessary. At least one of those appeared to be a greater demon, though Helen was at a loss for _which_ one. 

"How can I help?"

Helen turned slightly to find herself looking at the blue-haired faerie that Mark had sent away just a few days ago.

"Kieran," Mark growled, but Helen raised a hand.

"We can't dismiss the help," Helen said quietly, and Katerina murmured an agreement. "We're going to have to work through the demons first." 

Helen drew her bow as she spoke, setting an arrow to the string and then drawing it back. She released the shot, and one of the smaller demons turned towards them. Helen released a second arrow rapidly, and the demon fell. 

There were far too many, plus the dozen or so Shadowhunters she could see within the wards, pushing the defenders to their limits. Cristina and Katerina dove into the fray, and Kieran followed shortly after to do the same. Mark focused on using the elf bolt he wore, along with Helen, taking demons out from a distance and keeping an eye on the bigger picture of the fight. 

She wasn't expecting the moment another Hunter joined them, this one just as familiar as the first. _Gwyn?_ She didn't have time to say anything before the chaos of battle recaptured her mind and attention. 

"We need to regroup." Helen hissed.

Mark shifted into the fray, pulling Cristina and Katerina out, and sending Kieran back to Helen. Gwyn came of his own volition, joining them as Helen started to speak.

"We need to deal with that." She inclined her head towards the greater demon. "It's making a real effort to take out the wards, and it may succeed if left alone. The smaller ones are protecting it." Helen took a breath and released it. "We can't rely on anyone inside being able to help, their hands are quite full. Katerina, you and Cristina are going to work point on it. Mark, Kieran and I will flank."

"Where would I be most useful, Lady of Thorns?"

"Wherever you feel suits best." She responded after a moment. "I must admit I don't know enough of your fighting preferences to place you, Hunter." There was no missing a beat, no correcting his name for her. It didn't matter. "Let's move." Cristina and Katerina moved first, with Gwyn sticking close. Helen hadn't anticipated him putting himself so deeply into the fray. She shot down one of the small demons closest to the larger one and began to move forward herself.

She had to trust Kieran and Mark to play their parts. She'd never had a reason to doubt Mark though, and so she didn't look to either side, she didn't make any attempt to find out if they_ were_ she just concentrated on doing what _she_ needed to do. They'd get through this, they had to.

The wards shattered amid their assault on the greater demon, and suddenly the fight inside the wards was flooded by the demons outside of it. There wasn't time to wonder, there wasn't time to worry. Helen kept fighting, kept focusing her attention on the demons before her. And she prayed her strength would hold out.

They couldn't afford her becoming a liability in the middle of this fight, after all. She didn't see it happen. It happened while she focused on driving a Seraph blade through the back of the demon she faced with the others, but she heard Julian's scream. There wasn't time to find out why. 

There wasn't time. There was only blood. Demon ichor coated the seraph blade in her hands, but finally, the demon had fallen. It was only then that she realized Andrew was no longer standing. Helen's blood ran cold. She didn't have time to feel the sting in her heart, didn't have time to be _upset_, so she swallowed it down and continued in her combat. Finally, the demons were destroyed, though the wards remained broken.

Their fellow Nephilim were harder. 

There was a hesitation to kill them, and Helen _did_ want to take as many alive as she could. But actually managing to down them was still quite difficult. There were a dozen of them, and they were outnumbered, even without the demons. Especially with Andrew down. 

Pain seared through her abdomen as the fight wore on, and Helen ignored it as surely as she ignored the grief that had come from the realization that Andrew had not risen from the ground. She picked up more than a few injuries, fighting in close quarters despite being slightly out of practice for doing so. 

By the end, a few of the assailants lay dead, but the others were confined within a Malachi Configuration. It was better than Helen had hoped for. Except... except the wards were still down, and the institute was still in grave danger. As soon as the fight was over, Helen sent a fire message to the Silent Brothers with a brief explanation of that night's events and their current plight. 

And then they began to tend their wounded. Andrew was dead, Helen confirmed very quickly before moving his body somewhat out of the way and loosely draping it with a white cloth. The brothers would help. The brothers would help.

In the meantime, Helen had to attend to the living. First, those who had been wounded by the demons, and then those who had taken injuries from the Nephilim. 

Gwyn and Kieran took their leave before the Silent Brother's arrived. Helen hardly noticed though she wished she had gotten a chance to thank them for their help.

* * *

The Brother's took the assailants under their jurisdiction, promising that they could manage to contain and control even so many. Helen believed them because she had no reason to doubt their words. The wards would need to be repaired, but the Brothers indicated that the basis of them remained. It would be an arrangement between themselves and a few warlocks. They promised it would be done within the next day. In the meantime, the institute could protect itself.

Andrew was dead, the Brothers confirmed, and at sunset, he would be burned. The thought of another funeral was almost too much for Helen, but she nodded her understanding. It wasn't as if raging against these things would make them any less real.

"As you're aware, my father was the head of the institute." 

_"Yes."_

"I'm formally requesting permission to act as Head of the Institute until the Clave can appoint another."

"Helen would be the best choice to act in Andrew's place. She's been assisting with running the institute for more than a year now as it is. She is also the one with the strongest ties to our downworld allies." Katerina spoke up immediately in support. "She's young, but she's more than capable of it."

"_If there are no objections, then Helen Blackthorn may act as Head until such a time as another head has been appointed."_

Helen half expected John Carstairs to speak against her, but instead, he murmured an ascent as well.

_"Then it is done."_

Helen bowed slightly, head and shoulders. "I'll do my best." Their faith was touching, even if it _was_ terrifying. She was technically only 17. Still, she'd be 18 before much longer, and the reality was that it was needed. They needed _someone_ to keep the responsibility for what was going on, and she'd offered specifically because she already knew how her father did things and could maintain at least a smooth transition until the new head was appointed.

"Katerina can you go inside and make sure the kids are okay?" Helen asked. "Jules said they should be sheltering in the training room."

"I will. I'll... also tell them the news."

"Thank you," Helen whispered as she went away. The Silent Brothers left them finally, and mostly Helen just felt _cold_. She hated this, she hated the way it felt to lose someone, she hated not knowing what was going to happen to them all now with Andrew dead. She was old enough they would _probably_ allow them to stay together. With any luck, they'd get to stay here, but what if not? 

She shouldn't borrow trouble, Helen knew. But it was hard not to think about everything that still was yet to be done.

Mark said nothing, he just leaned very slightly against her arm. Helen appreciated the gesture, leaning back just fractionally to let him know how she felt and that she appreciated the support.

"Do you think it's over then?" Mark asked finally.

"I hope so, but I'm not sure. We'll see." Helen murmured, shoulders drooping. "I hope they hit us with everything they have left if LA and that they're all in custody, but I'm not sure that I believe it. You know?" And she didn't want to say it was over and find another body. So there was that to be concerned about.

"I get it," Mark admitted quietly. "Unpleasant surprise otherwise, yeah?"

Helen nodded quietly. "But I know you want the answer so you can... decide. So we'll only give it a couple of days for any strangeness and then I'll make the call." She didn't look at him directly, her attention focused somewhere to one side. There was just too much on her mind.

"You know I'm going to choose you, don't you? You all are my family, Helen."

"You seemed... all the stories you told certainly sounded like you were happy with the hunt, too. I don't want you to make a choice on impulse and regret it, Mark."

"It's not the same. I couldn't walk away from you, from the young ones. Not on purpose." Not when he had a choice in the matter, and Gwyn had given him one. 

Quietly, Mark wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Helen leaned a little more against him. They should have gone inside, but neither moved to do that, instead of breathing in the night air. They didn't say anything more. And in a sense, it was like old times, where their silence said almost more than their words could.

Finally, it was Mark who pulled away. "We should go back inside and get cleaned up. Take a shower and change at least."

"You can go. Someone has to keep watch with the wards down."

Mark frowned. "Helen..."

"I'm serious, Mark. I'm going to keep watch, to make sure the institute doesn't come under attack again." 


	11. Chapter 11

The next few days passed in something of a haze. The funeral happened, and the wards were repaired. Helen hadn't slept the night of the attack and crashed shortly after the funeral. Mark and Cristina went on a patrol together, while the rest remained within the institute.

They still didn't know what Warlock the Circle had gotten help from, or even have confirmation that that was what happened at all. Aline sent another message from Idris, indicating there had been a _second_ attack there, but that Valentine had been defeated. Aline would be remaining in Idris for a little longer. Helen sent her a brief note in return advising of the attack and what had happened so that she wasn't _entirely_ out of the loop.

Taking care of the kids was a necessity that she was _glad_ to have Katerina's assistance for. Helen probably could have survived alone, but it would have been exceedingly difficult. Still, she made a significant effort to see them and have meals with the family at the very least, instead of remaining in the office. She also made time to train with the others still and _usually_ made it to their nightly bookish meeting. 

But there were no more attacks. A week passed with nothing, and Helen knew that there was no sense in drawing these things out. Valentine had been defeated in Idris, along with the majority of the circle, and the rest had been downed here at the institute during the attack. 

"I think maybe it's safe to say it's over," Mark said quietly. 

Helen nodded. "I think so." She agreed, leaning quietly against him for a second before returning to the paperwork she was making her way through. "We'll need to talk to Gwyn, of course, but I've already spoken with the rest of the downworld leaders. There has been... quiet." Contended quiet. Helen couldn't complain about that. "But that makes sense, as the downworld has been invited to the table, so to speak, as they are discussing the end of this fight with Valentine."

"It's about time."

Helen nodded in agreement. "They still haven't appointed us a new head." Which was strange. But probably because she was working as interim they were taking their time.

"Well, they had to appoint a whole new Consul didn't they?"

Helen nodded. "It's Jia, apparently. Aline is quite happy for her mother. The new inquisitor is Robert Lightwood."

"It's nice of Aline to keep you in the loop."

Helen nodded. "I do appreciate it. It's nice to know what's going on even though I couldn't be there." She was glad she'd stayed though. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have been able to see her brother again. And maybe the institute would have fared worse than it did in the attack without the help. 

She took a deep breath. "I also want you to think about it. I know... you said you already made your choice, but Mark. I don't... I don't want there to be any regrets. Don't choose to stay just because you feel it's your duty. Make the choice that's going to make you _happy_. That's what I want most for you."

Mark captured her hands in his, stopping her from working for the moment, and causing her to look up into his eyes from her seated position.

"Helen. Being home, being with my family. That _will_ make me happy. The Hunt... it is freedom, yes. And there is some part of my heart that will always be called to that freedom, but with them, I always felt lost. Like I didn't belong like there was something missing. And there was - it was all of you. I couldn't ever make a choice that would keep me away from you all forever and be _happy_. We are all too much a family for that. We've all been together for too long, and it's always been _us_ against the world. Staying isn't out of duty, it's because this is my _home_. You are my parabatai. You are the other half of my soul, but you are also my sister and the one person who has stood by my side for quite literally my entire life. I've never had to question your intentions because they've always been absolutely pure."

There was a quiet pause. "I know you press because you want me to be sure, but I am sure. Please don't insult me by insinuating that I cannot be sure of myself."

Helen nodded quietly before looking away and taking a breath. "I'm sorry, I didn't intend to insult you, Mark." She just didn't want him to regret his decision at some point in the future. 

"It is already forgiven." He murmured. And it was, the only reason he'd said it at all was the end of the senseless argument. He knew she had his well-being in mind because Helen always did. She had the best of intentions, and he had always known that. "Will Aline be able to return soon?"

Helen nodded. "She thinks within the next few days. That's when the group from New York is going home, too."

"It will be good to see her again."

* * *

The first thing Aline did upon arriving was hug Helen_, _who clung back for just a moment before releasing her and smiling brightly. "It's good to have you home."

"It's good to _be_ home." Aline murmured back, kissing her temple lightly before finally stepping back away, and then slipping out of the office to put her bag back into her own room.

Mark caught her in the hallway. "I wanted to thank you for watching over Helen."

Aline smiled slightly at him. "Welcome home, Mark." Was what she said first. "And it was nothing. I was glad to be able to spend time with her." It was a selfish reason to have done it, but she wouldn't deny that her reasoning _had_ been selfish. She'd stayed because she enjoyed Helen's presence, and that had blossomed into something more. It was what it was. Aline wasn't sure it was worthy of _thanks_ though. 

"You make her happy," Mark said quietly, walking along with her down the hall.

"I hope so." Aline accepted finally. She nudged the proper door open and set her bag down inside before turning to face Mark again.

"Don't tell Helen yet," She started, careful to make sure her voice wouldn't carry. "But mom is trying to get the council to agree to make Helen the permanent head of the institute rather than just having this be an interim period. That's why there hasn't been a new one appointed, because they're sort of letting Helen trial run for a short while before they bring it back on the table."

"Would they really? She's awfully young..."

"She is." Aline acknowledged. "But she's a suitable candidate for the same reasons that she was allowed to take up an interim position, and her downworld ties really would be invaluable while we're rebuilding after what Valentine did, especially with the council being extended to include seats for each of the downworld races." There was a slight pause. "If... nothing else, the council can probably keep _deliberation_ going up until she turns 18 and can hold the position officially. She'd still be young, but at least she would be legally an adult and able to sit on the council when she's needed to."

"Like I said, I don't want to tell her yet, because I'd rather it be a bit of a surprise. And I don't want it to be a disappointment if they say _no_. But the possibility is there. Do you... do you think she'd accept it?"

Mark nodded. "I do. She's good at it, and she does know how to handle the downworld leaders here. She's doing well under the weight of it now, and we're all here to help her with smaller things when she needs it. ... It also would take some of the weight of actually _hunting_ off of her."

Aline made a slight sound of agreement. "Exactly."

* * *

Aline joined them in the Sanctuary when they met with Gwyn that evening. 

"Hunter." Helen greeted with a shallow bow. 

"I see that the institute is doing well since the attack."

Helen nodded. "I wanted to thank you for your assistance that night." Helen began, receiving a slight nod of acknowledgment from the hunter.

"As for the investigation, with the final battle in Idris, and the attack here on the institute we believe that the culprits have all been captured. No additional attacks have occurred in the time since, which lends itself to confirming that there will be no further victims." She paused for a second, mentally seeking the correct words. "The actual prosecution is still ongoing in Idris, but they are all imprisoned at this time." If not deceased. "We didn't want to call an end to the investigation too early, so while I apologize for the delay in informing you, I don't regret it. We needed to be sure there would be no further action to take."

"Your thoroughness is appreciated, Lady of Thorns," Gwyn said quietly, before turning his attention to Mark. "Have you decided then, Mark Hunter, what you will do now?"

"I have," Mark said quietly. "I wish to stay here, with my family."

Gwyn nodded, accepting his answer. "Then so it shall be." There seemed to be only a little regret in the Hunter's eyes, but no anger. True to his word, he did not seem bothered by the fact that Mark _had_ chosen his family over the Hunt. Maybe he had expected it all along. "I suspect this will not be the last time our fates are entwined, but for now, I shall take my leave."

"May your hunt be successful and the wind ever be in your favor, Gwyn." 

Gwyn gave her a slightly surprised look, but then answered it with a genuine smile. "And in yours as well, Helen."

"You really _were_ doing your research." Mark murmured as Gwyn left the sanctuary. 

Helen nodded. "When I found the hunter... I knew I should have a grasp of how to handle things. There wasn't _a lot_ as Nephilim and the Wild Hunt don't often interact. But there was enough." Helen explained. "And then he requested the meeting..." She'd ended up redoubling her efforts at that, realizing that she didn't have nearly enough for direct interaction. It had gone well enough. She'd succeeded in not making him _angry_ at least. 

"It worked out." Aline murmured, and Helen nodded.

"It did." She agreed finally. "And here we are."

"Here we are," Mark responded softly. The three of them shared a moment quietly in the sanctuary. 

It was over the horror that had spread out over more than the last year. It was over, and maybe they could have a little peace to recover. But the work of a Shadowhunter was never done, and all three of them knew the next challenge wouldn't be as far away as they wanted it to be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is not as heavily Haline as many would hope! I promise I will make it up in a coming piece. Aline spent all of city of glass in Idris, and I needed her there for the parallel piece 'Two Worlds Collide' which will begin being posted... Soon. It has some editing that needs to be done in the first few chapters. There will be another Blackthorn Centric piece with way more Haline because they won't be split across nations but~ until next time: May your hunt be successful and the wind ever be in your favor!

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr at [Aerislei's Fics](https://aerisleis-fics.tumblr.com/) \- you're welcome to come chat or send asks or anything!


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